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December 13, 2007

Mitchell's Report On Steroids Released

1:45 PM: No matter how many names are in Mitchell's report, it will not be a complete list of users. Any suspected player not on the list will continue to be suspected. And there will likely be some clean players named in the report who have been falsely accused. We will have no way of knowing who they are.

So what's the point of this exercise? Drug use is rampant in baseball. And ....? I suppose MLB (who hid its head in the sand for more than a decade) is hoping that this will show how super-duper-concerned it is about getting PEDs out of the game? But who the hell over the age of six is going to believe that?

P.S.: Mitchell's report will say nothing about amphetamines -- a drug with a far bigger role in baseball history than steroids.

And if you think the sports media -- which also stuck its fingers in its ears and yelled "la-la-la-la, I can't hear you" for more than a decade -- has been self-righteous and moralising on this issue in the past, well, just wait another 15 minutes ....

***

At 2 PM today.

ESPN's Buster Olney quotes an agent as saying the Report includes "landscape-changing names. Names that will change the way we look at the sport."

A former Yankee strength trainer says Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte are in the report. According to the Bergen Record: "It's going to be a rough day in the Bronx." An unconfirmed list making the rounds via email (and being discussed at SoSH) includes Jason Varitek.

I'm wondering if the entire report will be released as a PDF to the public.

Frankly, the biggest problem I'm seeing with this list is that so many are all-stars and MVPs. You would expect a realistic list to contain mostly rank and file type players, with maybe a couple of big names on it. Unless you believe steroids guarantee success, which I absolutely don't.

I wouldn't put much stock in WNBC's report on names. Other reports [rumors] refute the names, citing MLB officials who have seen the report.

I'd just say... wait until 2:00 and read it yourself. Any large document that is posted online will probably be in .pdf format. So at 2:00 the link will be opened and circulated online and we'll all be able to pour over it ourselves. That is, what I'm expecting to happen.

Nah. Bonds has long since been dubbed the Face of Cheating and I doubt this will do anything to change that, even if he's not on the report. I think most of the Bonds bashing comes from people who don't even follow baseball.

It'll be interesting to hear the fan reactions at the ballpark for each of these players. Whether it be home or away. Andy Pettitte's deal with the Yankees have been finalized, and it would be interesting to hear the reactions in parks around the country. Fenway might not be so telling, because of that whole booing him anyways thing.

"The McCarthy-esque rumor-mongering about players on the Internet -- and in some media outlets -- that speculates about positive steroids tests has gotten to a dangerous, insidious point. Johnny Damon actually addressed his rumors, which was the equivalent of him having to announce he is not a member of Al-Qaeda."

In considering whether to trade for Donnelly in 2007, the Red Sox baseball operations personnel internally discussed concerns that Donnelly was using performance-enhancing substances. In an email to vice president of player personnel Ben Charington dated 13 Dec. 2006, Zack Scott of the Red Sox baseball operations staff wrote of Donnelly: "He was a juice guy but his velocity hasn't changed a lot over the years...If he was a juice guy, he could be a breakdown candidate."

"Canseco told members of my investigative staff that he had numerous conversations with Clemens about the benefits of Deca-Durabolin and Winstrol and how to “cycle” and “stack” steroids. ...

"Clemens approached McNamee and, for the first time, brought up the subject of using steroids. Clemens said that he was not able to inject himself, and he asked for McNamee’s help.

"Later that summer, Clemens asked McNamee to inject him with Winstrol, which Clemens supplied. McNamee knew the substance was Winstrol because the vials Clemens gave him were so labeled. McNamee injected Clemens approximately four times in the buttocks overa several-week period with needles that Clemens provided. Each incident took place inClemens’s apartment at the SkyDome. ...

"According to McNamee, from the time that McNamee injected Clemens with Winstrol through the end of the 1998 season, Clemens’s performance showed remarkableimprovement. During this period of improved performance, Clemens told McNamee that the steroids “had a pretty good effect” on him. ...

"In 1999, Clemens was traded to the New York Yankees. McNamee remained under contract with the Blue Jays for the 1999 season. In 2000, the Yankees hired McNamee asthe assistant strength and conditioning coach under Jeff Mangold. According to McNamee, the Yankees hired him because Clemens persuaded them to do so."

"Later that summer, Clemens asked McNamee to inject him with Winstrol, which Clemens supplied. McNamee knew the substance was Winstrol because the vials Clemens gave him were so labeled. McNamee injected Clemens approximately four times in the buttocks overa several-week period with needles that Clemens provided. Each incident took place inClemens’s apartment at the SkyDome. ...

Assuming the search function for PDFs is accurate (and it appears to be), I found no references to Varitek (phew), Damon, Nomar or Trot Nixon, yet apparently there were rumors that all of the above were on "the list." It is F-ing scary how these rumors start and how damaging they can be. Imagine being the child of one of those players and having kids start taunting you about your father. Who knows whether the "list" has any truth to it or whether it is comprehensive. The little I read of the actual report just reminds me of McCarthyism---people naming names to distract attention away from themselves or because under some pressure to give names.

The only names I could find of current Red Sox players were Gagne (indicating that his power days were based on use of drugs and that he would not rebound without them--guess we all saw that) and Donnelly. I searched for all references for "Sox" and found some former players like Mo Vaughan and others whom I cannot remember but who were not big names.

RS: Just happened to tune in to your last question as I'm watching Bud on "the Score" channel. God, he's pathetic. Saw an item in this morning's NY Post that MLB spent more than 20 mil. on this. It's all a farce. If I hadn't grown up with the sport, I would have baled long ago.

Just flipped over to CNN where by chance Wolf Blitzer has Mitchell on live. First words I hear are Wolf asking "Senator, what do we tell the children?" Will somebody please drop by my place and shoot me?

Red Sock has carried a hatred for Clemens for quite some time now, with none of it based on steroid usage.....

I assume this doesn't change your opinion of him in anyway?

You still hate him , but now also get to laugh at him.....

The media better run with this one and run till the cows come home, because his trainer admits to shooting Clemens full of steroids on numerous occasions....that is way worse than what we actually know about Bonds.....

Gee Wolf, how about the truth? Some people cheat. In baseball, on their homework, on their taxes, at the ballot box. Come on, they can take it. They aren't stupid until we make them stupid by lying to them about how the world is all rosy.

Rotoworld:Agent Randy Hendricks sent out a statement saying Roger Clemens "vehemently denies allegations in the Mitchell Report that he used performance-enhancing steroids." Hendricks's release says that Clemens "is outraged that his name is included in the report based on uncorroborated allegations of a troubled man threatened with federal criminal prosecution."